Letters from Elder Travis Neuberger called to serve as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Monday, May 28, 2012

Service

Well after an
absolute blizzard on Monday, it’s warmed up quite a bit here in UB. Although
we are still grateful the President hasn’t told us to leave the jackets at
home.

This week after
giving many of our investigators to the sisters to teach, we set to work fixing
the ward list and checking addresses. The back half of the week entailed zone
conference and so wonderful service opportunities.

Our first
service was to a less active member who had recently bought a 150 piece build it
yourself cabinet set. The trick being that there were no directions
except for a picture of the finished project. With help from a neighbor we
began working, and then proceeded to take apart and rebuild it multiple
times. In the end we built about a fourth of it before we gave up.
We were laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation most of the time.

Thursday we
planted a small orchard of chatsargana trees on someone’s yard. Friday we carried 2000 liters of water up a
hill with the help of some Elders in other districts. Then the Sisters called and said they needed
some help. One of their investigators was moving their ger to a spot high
on the side of a mountain. Now obviously you can’t just plop your ger
down on a 45 degree slope and live. It requires digging out a platform
from the side of the mountain. With some handmade pickaxes we got the job
done. More water carrying finished the
week.

Anyway, most
importantly we met with some wonderful people this week the highlight coming
yesterday. Buried in a stack of notes on
former investigators we found the name of a man who had met with the
missionaries about a year ago. As we made our plans for the week we
decided to arrange to meet with him. As we got to his house late Sunday night
he greeted us warmly and ushered us in. The first words to us were how grateful
he was to see us and hear our message. Probably the number one thing
missionaries like to hear. Next he told us that last time the
missionaries had met with him he hadn’t been ready, but he felt he was prepared
to hear our message now. That’s probably number two. As we started
we began to ask him about in his belief in God. When he finished telling
us what he thought in his heart my companion paused, and said "the only
thing wrong with your answer is that now there is nothing left for me to say."
We explained about the Savior, prophets, and the restoration. He asked
questions along the way that we were able to answer through the
scriptures. It couldn’t have been any better. Then his son came in
who is a 19 year old boy studying at a school in the city. He immediately
sat down and joined the discussion. He asked questions about the purpose
of life and we gave him a Plan of Salvation pamphlet before we left.
Closing off what I can assure you ranks as one of the greatest first visits of
all time (not in anyway because of the missionaries, but because of the
preparedness of the investigators) the wife came in from work. We were
about to say the closing prayer and she asked if we would wait a minute so that
she could join us. It took me so much by surprise that I was sure I had
just understood her wrong. But she quickly grabbed a chair and listened
as her husband offered the first prayer in his life. I'll never forget
that visit.

Zone conference
was what you would expect . . . a
spiritual outpouring from truly inspired leaders. The best part about
zone conferences is always the practice. It is amazing home much you can
learn from watching someone teach and then directly applying what you learned
in practice. Truly, almost all quality learning comes in the doing.

We also went as
a zone to one of the largest puzzle museums in the world which was
fascinating. Sister Clark like my own mom said she only allowed us
to go because it was an educational opportunity. It was really cool and
there were about a thousand gospel analogies that could be pulled from the
tour.

Well I finished
the Book of Mormon this week, wading though the destruction of the Jaredite
people to get to the “gold” at the end of Moroni.

I love the
question posed by Moroni in chapter 7 verse 20.20 And now, my brethren, how is it possible
that ye can lay hold upon every good thing?

There is an
abundance of good things in the world that we can choose to spend our time
on. So much so that even if we fill all our time with good works it may
seem there just isn’t enough time in the day to include all that is good.

Moroni continues:22 For behold, God knowing
all things, being from everlasting
to everlasting, behold, he sent angels
to minister unto the children of men, to make manifest concerning the coming of
Christ; and in Christ there should come every good thing.

Like a bottle that holds water, if we have the bottle it is possible to hold
all of the water in our hand if we just hold onto the bottle. If we don’t
have the bottle we cannot come close to holding as much water in our
hands. The water is all good things and
the bottle is Christ.
If we hold onto Christ, it is possible to hold onto all good things through Christ.

25 Wherefore, by the ministering of angels,
and by every word which proceeded forth out of the mouth of God, men began to
exercise faith in Christ; and thus by faith, they did lay hold upon every good
thing; and thus it was until the coming of Christ.

Indeed if we focus our faith in Christ we need not worry about missing out on any
good thing or anything good.

I love you all,

Elder Neuberger

PS Congratulations to Mr. Kramer on retirement this past week. Play a round of golf for me!

PPS Thanks to the South Carolina cousins for the great letter through dearelder
this week.